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SUMMER SCHEDULE:I am extremely busy on the farm right now, peeps (you can find what I'm doing through FB page Olives and Acorns) and wilting in the terrible heat. As a consequence, my reading schedule suffered and while reviews will continue trickling in, normal schedule won't resume until September. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 | Posted by
kara-karina@Nocturnal Book Reviews

Stolen Night by Rebecca Maizel (Vampire Queen #2)

boughtSynopsis from GoodreadsLenah Beaudonte should
be dead. But having sacrificed herself to save another, she finds
herself awakening with strange powers that are neither vampire nor
human—and a new enemy on her trail. In her vampire life, Lenah had
thought that being human was all she ever wanted; but the human heart
suffers pain, heartbreak and loss.

With her new powers growing
and the dark force of the Nex after her soul, Lenah faces a choice:
between the mortal love of gorgeous Justin, whose passion fed her human
soul, and taking a different path to become the mistress of her own
destiny, wherever that may lead...

9/10

* * *

I remember how awe-struck I was by Infinite Days, peeps.

Here she was, a 600-year old vampire Queen, driven mad by her inability to feel anything but hunger for blood and torturous memories of her love for Rhode, a vampire who turned her and left her, because he couldn't bear to see the monster she became...

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 | Posted by
kara-karina@Nocturnal Book Reviews

Alexander Outland: Space Pirate by G.J. Koch

won from Bastard BooksSynopsis from GoodreadsCaptain Alexander
Outland of the Sixty-Nine (short for Space Vessel 3369, of course) is
the best pilot in the galaxy. He’s also a pirate, a smuggler, and loved
and loathed by women in umpteen solar systems. His crew of strays and
misfits includes an engineer of dubious sanity, a deposed planetary
governor, an annoyingly unflappable Sexbot copilot, and a slinky weapons
chief who stubbornly refuses to give the captain a tumble.

Outland
just wants to make a decent living skirting the law, but when an
invisible space armada starts cutting into his business, he soon finds
himself in hot water with the military, the mob, mad bombers, and an
extended family of would-be conquerors. And that’s not counting an
occasionally telepathic spy . . .

Like any sensible scoundrel,
he hates heroics. They’re risky and they don’t pay well. But to keep his
ship and crew in one piece, and make time with a certain hard-to-get
weapons chief, he might just have to make an exception–and save the
galaxy in spite of himself!

8.5/10

* * *

Alexander Napoleon Outland, Nap for short, is a riot. Excuse me while I take a huge step back from this book and convulse with laughter.It was so so funny and silly and full of action and comic relief, - a much needed book for the upcoming winter months. If you love Han Solo and Serenity, this is a must read.

But
in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will
find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome
proprietor of the club. And Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat.
Neither boy is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.

And Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for—no matter what it costs her.

8.5/10

* * *

Beautiful, dark and poetic, - I really enjoyed this book. Bethany Griffin painted a grim picture of the world bleak and desolate, world consumed by plague, cities falling to ruin, dead on the streets, children with no future because their parents can't afford masks which filter the air you breathe and therefore offer some protection from the disease...

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH was such a pleasure to read! Great plot, interesting characters, beautiful. ALEXANDER OUTLAND: SPACE PIRATE was one incorrigible wicked fun of a book. Nap, the main character comes out as a womanizer in the beginning, but he is an insanely talented hero with a soft heart. I just loved him. Total Han Solo. STOLEN NIGHT stole my breath away! I've waited for 2 freaking years until its release and it was so well worth it. At last, PLANESRUNNER was one of my favorites of 2012. What a fabulous book, sci-fi, steampunk, electropunk, colourful language, so vivid and plain gorgeous!

DNF:

A pity, but me and this book just didn't get along at all in the first 20 pages. The main character's trail of thought was too bizarre for my liking, although the book is getting good reviews. It just wasn't for me.

TOTAL:

40 books (1 for review) left!

I'm not on holiday I know but I totally caved in last night when I saw Tiffany Reisz's Twitter update that THE PRINCE is now available on Netgalley and downloaded it. I want this book so bad I'm shaking, so this was no negotiable for me :)

I also have a giveaway of 2 spooky horror reads from Rob Blackwell which ends on 1st of November. I read his first novel A Soul to Steal last October, and believe me, - you do not want to read him at night in the empty house. That book scared me!

Hi, peeps! Let me introduce you to ROB BLACKWELL, a brilliantly spooky horror writer, whose debut novel A Soul To Steal I reviewed last year and absolutely loved.

Me and Rob, we seem to have started a tradition of scary guest posts close to Halloween. Last year we talked about the nature of fear and mythology in Rob's book.

This year he is sharing a creepy story from his past...

The most chilling
tales are the true ones.

Most of the time
when I write scary stories, I’m using my imagination. But one night
several years ago, I was living one.

My family and I
were spending the night at a remote cabin deep in the North Woods of
Michigan. The house is miles away from civilization, off a long dirt
road that few others visit. I’ve always felt safe there, but every
so often I’ve had the same nightmare: someone lurking outside the
house in the dark, watching me.

On this particular
evening, though, I wasn’t thinking about that. My parents had gone
out for the evening to a neighbor’s house a few miles down the
road. My infant son was in bed and, thankfully, already asleep. My
wife and I had just gone to bed as well.

When I heard the
phone ringing, I assumed it was my parents telling me they were
heading home.

I got up, a little
groggy but not quite asleep, and answered the phone. I wasn’t
prepared for what I heard next.

“I’m going to
kill you,” the man said.

The weird thing
about that moment was how unreal it felt even while it was happening
to me. My first response, instead of fear, was sheer confusion. You
want to kill me? Why? I’m really very nice.

When I didn’t
respond immediately, the man grew louder—and angrier.

“I’m going to
f*cking kill you!” he said again.

I stood there in
stunned silence and started watching the woods. The thing about the
North Woods is that it is pitch black out there. Looking out the
window was like staring at a black wall. I couldn’t see a damn
thing. I was acutely aware that there really could be someone out
there and I wouldn’t know.

Friday, October 26, 2012 | Posted by
kara-karina@Nocturnal Book Reviews

Deliverance by Dakota Banks (Mortal Path #3)

boughtSynopsis from GoodreadsKill . . . or be damned.

A
demon's assassin for centuries, Maliha Crayne has gone rogue,
determined to save a life for every one she's destroyed in order to free
herself from an eternity of enslavement, damnation, and excruciating
torment. But as the powers that sustained her in the past fade, she is
wary of trusting those closest to her--especially her lover, Jake. And
her closest friends are beginning to disappear, one by one. Amid her
anger, suspicion, and sorrow, her life is spiraling out of control.

Worse
still, a beautiful Renaissance murderess is recruiting Maliha as her
new assassin. Maliha is turning into a lethal puppet with an evil
Immortal pulling the strings, forced to kill innocents or see her
missing friends die horribly. Suddenly trapped in a moral no-man's-land,
Maliha is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't . . . and time
is rapidly running out.

9.5/10

* * *

Absolutely mind-blowing book! Dakota Banks writes one of the best urban fantasy series I've ever read, fast, brutal, unapologetic, with a very unique mythology and a delightful main heroine who reminds me of a female version of Indiana Jones.

Thursday, October 25, 2012 | Posted by
kara-karina@Nocturnal Book Reviews

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (The Chemical Garden #1)

boughtSynopsis from GoodreadsBy age sixteen, Rhine
Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for
this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has
left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan
of 20 years.

Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the
human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty
have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as
polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and
sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband,
Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to
hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of
wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it
possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine
quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is
what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding
the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister
wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is
desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive.
Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together
with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just
before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral
into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

7.5/10

* * *

Funny thing about Wither, it was good and bad at the same time. Pretty depressing, but captivating and poetic read. I would say, if you like this one you should read The Selection by Kiera Cass, although America had guts not like Rhine who just talked the talk but didn't walk the walk until the very end.

To all my readers, hello again! To all the chaps new to this blog, - my giveaways are always international with very few exceptions. Following isn't necessary, however do come back and say hello if you decide the books I review is your cup of tea :)

Here is what I'm giving away

There will be TWO winners for ONE book each from this list.

The giveaway is open to all.

My only request is that if you live somewhere The Book Depository doesn't ship check if Fishpond.com has the book you want in stock, because I'll be ordering from there.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012 | Posted by
kara-karina@Nocturnal Book Reviews

The Lost Stones by Paul Rimmasch

review requestSynopsis from Goodreads1600s Mexico- The Aztec
Prince Ixtililxochitl writes that the first people to inhabit his land
came from the Tower of Babel at the dividing of tongues…Scholars dismiss
his writings as myth. -----1800s
Mid Western United States- Settlers dig into ancient burial mounds and
discover thousands of slate tablets covered with a strange hieroglyphic
writing and drawings depicting Jesus Christ…these artifacts are
denounced as a hoax. -----1909
Arizona-a newspaper runs a story describing how a cave containing metal
artifacts and Egyptian-type hieroglyphics was discovered in the Grand
Canyon by a group of Scientists from the Smithsonian Institute…the
Smithsonian categorically denies the account. -----These
and other amazing facts make up the world of forbidden Book of Mormon
Archaeology. It is a world BYU student and Iraqi War veteran Ammon
Rogers never knew existed. He is thrust headlong into this world when
he asks the enigmatic adventurer John Byrd a simple question. When John
is kidnapped in Mexico, Ammon joins forces with John’s beautiful
daughter in a desperate attempt to not only save John, but to find his
answer…an answer that will change the world…an answer one sinister foe
will do anything to suppress.

6.5/10

* * *

You know how long it took me to read this book? A very long time! Is it because it was bad? NO. The topic was simply so fascinating I kept spending a lot of time online researching it :DThat's the strong part of this book - it's unique topic, because let's face it: how often a blogger like me will read an archaeological conspiracy involving lost civilisations and their ancient technologies, The Book of Mormon and evil corporations covering up the research into alternative sources of energies? Not very often.

Monday, October 22, 2012 | Posted by
kara-karina@Nocturnal Book Reviews

Building from Ashes by Elizabeth Hunter (Elemental World #1)

review requestSynopsis from GoodreadsFor a thousand years,
powerful earth vampire Carwyn ap Bryn has served others. God. His
family. His friends. But tragedy and loss disrupt his peaceful
existence, causing him to question everything he has committed his
eternity to.

Brigid Connor has known about vampires since they
rescued her from a painful childhood. But not even their vast elemental
power can save her from the demons that torment her.

As loyalties
are tested and new paths are forged, a lurking danger slowly grows in
the Elemental World. Carwyn and Brigid will learn that even secrets
revealed can come back to haunt you when you least expect it.A
continuation/spinoff of the Elemental Mysteries series. The timeline
in this books stretches from BEFORE A Hidden Fire starts (so you see a
little character history) until AFTER A Fall of Water finishes. As I’m
sure lots of you could tell, Carwyn had quite a few things going on in
his life that didn’t make it into Gio and Beatrice’s story. So Building
From Ashes explores that storyline and also sets up the Elemental World
for some new adventures...

You have to check out Trey Ratcliff's amazing HDR photography, peeps! Not only his website Stuck in Customs is a joy to look at, it's all under Creative Commons license, so you can actually use it on your blog.

I hope you are having a fantastic weekend!

Here is what I read last week:

DELIVERANCE was a mind-blowing brutal adventure of a book, as it always happens when I read Dakota Banks, BUILDING FROM ASHES is a new spin-off from Elemental Vampires novels by Elizabeth Hunter. While it's not as fascinating as Gio and Beatrice's story, it's still a very good paranormal mystery romance. At last, WITHER was a gripping, engaging and creepy novel which I liked despite my reservations about the main heroine, and THE LOST STONES made me dig into a fascinating topic which I don't know much about at all.

DNF:

Unfortunately, THE MAGE was the last book in series I was unfamiliar with. It might have made more sense to someone else, but from 80 pages I've read it was bland, had zero spark between the main characters and involved too much talk. I happily donated it to my local library.

SCORE:

45 books left (2 for review)

Three things which blew my mind last week:

1. Colonel Meow

That cat is amazing! Named the world's grumpiest cat, he calls his fans minions, loves his scotch and generally cultivates his look of a devil's spawn.

Vika is reading

A Token of Appreciation

Just a little note to you all,our dear readers!If any of you desire to show your support to this blog you can donate through Paypal to chai_s_calinoi at yahoo dot co dot uk or buy a book through any of these links The Book DepositoryUK/US, AmazonUK/US which will send us a small percentage from the sale. All proceeds will go towards the international giveaways here on NBR.Thank you!

Copyright @ 2011-2014 Nocturnal Book ReviewsHeader designed with the full permission of the artist Aimee Stewart, background image is by Tarayue.Disclaimer: none of the reviews are influenced or paid for in any way, they reflect my honest opinion.